The Rememberance
by Opal Amari
Summary: MY version of the continuation of #54! The Ellimist gives Rachel another chance to live, by being reincarnated. Read to find out more! **NEW CHAPTER UP**
1. Chapter 1

(A/n) It is late. I am tired. I have suffered 8 days of Kosher foods. I had to rake through #54 just to get this info (NOT something I liked doing.) The only button that should be pushed is the review button. 'Nuff said.

The Remembrance _Rachel_

I wondered if…

"Rachel?" The Ellimist asked. I didn't want to answer him. But I wanted to hold onto every last bit of time I had to be alive. To think. To remember. So I answered. "What?"

            "You know, there is another way."

 "Another way for what?"

 "You don't have to die," the Ellimist replied. 

"What are you talking about?" What was he playing at?

"Rather than die, you will be… reincarnated."

This caught me off guard. "Reincarnated? As what? Where?"

"Allow me to explain. You will be reincarnated as yourself, in your old body."

Would this get me to Tobias? To the others? "There's a catch, isn't there?"

"You know me too well," the Ellimist replied with a smile in his tone. "Yes. You won't be going back to your own time. It is already two and a half years since you died." 

Two and a half years? It must have been at least two minutes here. "Go on," I prompted.

"Rather, you will be going a thousand years into the future. The human race has changed by much. Allow me to show you." And in an instant, I could "see" the world a thousand years later.

"As you see, Andalites are living on Earth. The world is such that portions of it are Andalite land and others are human land." I saw the land was patched up like a crazed jigsaw puzzler put it together. The grass was the old green I knew, but there was also brighter green, and blue. Trees varied from ones I knew to ones I've only seen on Ax's Dome ship.

The Ellimist continued, "Technology has advanced by far, when Andalites and humans worked together and combined knowledge. Other things have changed, but I can't explain them to you yet.

"It is your choice. You can be reincarnated. You will still be known as "Rachel", but not as the Animorph. You will have a family, but not your old family. Or you can choose to stay here, and to truly die. Like I said, it's up to you, and you alone."

I thought. I wanted to live. More than anything. But I doubted beyond anything that Tobias would be there. Or Jake. Or any of the others. Then again, any life is better than none. 

The Ellimist knew my decision before I spoke. And with a flash and a swirl of the space around me, I was falling… falling into deep blackness.

(A/n) -_- zzzzzzzzzzzzz… 


	2. Chapter 2

(A/n) Ah, good ole' coffee!!! *Takes a sip* Eeep! *Spits it out* Tastes like chalk… Sorry 'bout being so rude last time; I'm an insomniac, and I don't get much sleep. Speaking of insomnia, I should probably be working on that dream fic…

                                                **Chapter 2**

Rachel 

            I opened my eyes and the darkness was gone. ((A/n) That was a brilliant statement… sorry.)

            The first thing I noticed was the canopy above me. Then I saw a curious face hovering right above mine. A boy's face. "AAAAAHHHH!!!"

            He jumped back. Then he turned his head and called, "Mom, she's awake!" Then he looked back at me. "'Bout time you got up, squirt."

            _SQUIRT?_ "Who are you calling squirt, pimply?" Okay, so it wasn't the best insult I could come up with, but it just popped out of my head. And his acne _was_ terrible. I reached to grab his neck, but he stopped my hands before they could reach their target. "Geez, calm down Rachel." I relaxed my arms. Then I heard a voice calling out from another room. "Jada! Rachel! If you want your breakfast come and eat it before your brother does!" 

The kid above me, who I guess was Jada, bounded out of the room. "Come on squirt! Bet I can finish before you can!" 

I hurriedly jumped up and looked around the room. It was a small room; all the walls were stone. There was a small window, like the ones I knew from my time. I mean my old time. I had been lying on a soft mattress, but instead of a bed, it was on the floor. Above the mattress was a hammock-like object, except it looked a lot more comfortable that the old ones. Come to think of it, the whole room didn't differ much from my own. It had a dresser in a corner, a second in another corner. A lamp hanging from the ceiling. A small device I assumed was a futuristic TV. A mirror.

I raced in front of the mirror and examined the face staring back at me. Same face. Same eyes. Same long blonde hair. Same height. No trace of a claw scar. "So the Ellimist kept his promise," I muttered to myself. For now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I left the room through one of those doors like the ones on _Star Trek_. The ones that go _fwoosh_. Through strange instinct that I hadn't known before, I found myself in the kitchen of the house. Inside, the boy called Jada was sitting at the table, wolfing down what looked like futuristic pancakes. "'Bout time you got here," he said through a mouthful of pancake. I groaned and slid into the nearest chair. 

"Well, you're not the morning person today, are you Rachel?" a voice said behind me. I turned and found myself looking at a woman with short black hair and a large waistline. She was oddly familiar. Instantly, a word popped into my head: _Mom_. "Nah, guess not," I replied, casually as I could. This was getting pretty creepy. I hadn't known these people for five minutes and already it seemed like I had known them a lifetime. My new mother piled several pancakes onto my plate. I would have eaten them, except that they had strange glowing things on them. 

"I'm not really hungry," I said, pushing my plate away from me, except it wouldn't budge. I realized it was attached to the table. 

"Fine, waste good food," said Jada. He set his fork and knife down, belched loudly, and sat back. Without warning, the table folded upward, sending all the leftover food into a small hole in the middle of the fold. I heard a grinding sound. That must have been the food disposal. The table then righted itself, all the dishes cleared. Small fountains sprang up over the top and washed the dishes. Finally, a large heating lamp dried them, and they came out sparkling clean.

I left the table and for the first time, realized I was wearing a nightgown. Ugh. It's this horrendous pink color. I quickly walked back to the room I had woken up in. However, upon arrival, I was greeted by a robotic voice. In thought speech. Good morning, Rachel, the disembodied voice said cheerfully. How may I help you today? 

"Please tell me you have a Banana Republic." 

Will that be regular or decaf?

"What??"

Just kidding! Access to your closet granted.

I was just thinking it was just my luck to get robot with a sense of humor (which oddly reminded me of Ax) when a door I hadn't noticed before _fwooshed_ open. I found myself staring openmouthed at what must have been the largest closet of clothing in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, I exited the house wearing an interesting combination of strange futuristic clothing. My outfit consisted of knee high boots, black capris, a white tank top, and a navy blue jacket. They were altered to fit the future, but they were as close as I could get to my own tastes. Having gotten directions from the computer in my room and reassured my "mother" where I was going, I set off towards the nearest information center.

On my way, I recapped everything. I had a picture in my new room, one of my new family. I must have been 6 when that picture was taken. Looking exactly like I did when I was that age in my old life. Acting like I had been there forever. Except the people who stood around me were strangers. My dad was nothing like my old dad, just as my mom was not like my old mom. And instead of my sisters, Sara and Jordan, I had two brothers, Jada and the other one. The Ellimist must have thought he was pretty smart, putting me in a family where I was not only the only girl, but also the youngest.

As I walked, I noticed many strange things. First of all, the sky was deep red from directly above, but as the sun rose, it became yellow, and then below that, just the faintest of blue. Second, I saw no animals I recognized. No pigeons. No squirrels. Nothing. Just little furry creatures climbing the trees and eating leaves from the very top. Not creatures I've ever seen. 

But those are nothing. The really weird thing is that Andalites were walking around on the street. Just walking around like humans. Talking to humans and humans responding without any sign of this being a strange activity. One waved to me as he, or she, galloped by. I waved back weakly. Another was focusing on repairing a small device that looked like a remote control. He didn't look up, but he followed me with one stalk eye. I hurried away quickly.

 _Andalites_? Here, on Earth? Then I notice the large patches of grass around several scoops. I remembered Ax's scoop and could easily tell these were Andalite scoops. Not much of a change, except these scoops looked as if they all had TV's inside them. And more bits of machinery. And refrigerators. Go figure. 

Finally I arrived at the information center. It looked like the Epcot Center at Disney World, except there were all sorts of gizmos I couldn't even describe sticking out of the dome. And a few dozen space crafts hovering around. I walked in and found myself in front of an Andalite behind a computer. She looked up with her stalk eyes, and kept her main eyes on the computer. May I help you? She asked. 

"Um, yes, I'm looking for information on the time period between 2000 and today." I had no clue what year it was.

Aisle 52-a, she replied, without the slightest tone of suspicion, indicating with her stalk eyes in the direction of aisle 52-a. I thanked her and headed off.

Aisle 52-a was a row of flat computer built into the wall. They had no keyboard. Instead, there was a single red circle, which looked like a round mouse pad. I stared at the computer helplessly. How did you turn this thing on? There was no one else in the aisle, so I couldn't get help. I just stared at it. Maybe the pad did something? 

Here. You need a key card. I spun around. The Andalite from the street stood behind me. He held his device in one hand, and a small card in his other. It looked like a credit card, except it had strange writing and numbers on it. I looked suspiciously at the Andalite. "Who are you?" 

I almost missed it. It would have been unnoticed if I hadn't been watching carefully. But I'd seen it. The slight flicker in his left main eye. Across his hologram.

"Erek the Chee."

He dropped his hologram, leaving only his mechanical android body. He grinned his steel dog grin at me.

"Yes Rachel. Except now it's Erek, last of the Chee."


	3. Chapter 3

(A/n) The reason there is no author note at the end of the last chapter is because that chapter and this were written at the same time, and the author note just bugged me. Blah. XP Just read and I hopeth you enjoyeth.

                                                                                    **Chapter 3**

Rachel 

            Those last words rocked me. "_Last_ of the Chee???" Erek nodded. "What… how did…" I couldn't voice my question.

            "How did we perish?" Erek finished my unsaid sentence. "It's a bit of a long story. But how are you alive?"

            I grinned weakly. "That's also a long story. You first."

            "Okay, but just so you know, I've set up a hologram around us. Passer Byers will think we are just a girl and an Andalite talking. They'll hear only the hologram talking." I nodded. "So anyway, go on." 

            "Before I begin, however, I have to apologize."

            "Why?"

            "That's were the story begins. On the Blade Ship. The final battle." I remembered. _My_ final battle. Only an hour ago it seemed.

            "Anyway, you remember Jake blackmailed me to break into the Pool Ship. When I refused, he threatened to kill mass amounts of living creatures, whether human, Yeerk, or Hork-Bajir. I could only agree. But I was angry. And while you were on the Blade Ship fighting, I drained the power from the main weapons to keep Jake from shooting the ship. And… and you died." He lowered his head, ashamed. I didn't know what to say. I stood rooted to the spot. But I had a feeling that Erek felt worse for not only causing my death (which didn't matter now because I was alive), but also for being the last Chee. "So go on. What happened to the Chee?"

            Erek didn't look up, but continued anyway. "Well, the rest of the Chee and I spread apart. We felt scarred, angry with ourselves for what we did. What I did. We went off to different parts of the world to do as much good as was in our power. I stayed here; I felt it was my responsibility to stay here and right what I have done wrong.

            "However, only 200 years after Andalites and humans agreed to live together on Earth and the Andalite home world, a particularly ingenious scientist created a device that could both build androids and destroy them. He was showing it off one day at some convention, and when he turned it on, one of the audience members dropped dead. The Chee was completely shut off, and the hologram disappeared. The scientist grew suspicious of the androids living among human. He believed us to be evil. And he used the device numerous times on the remaining Chee. The Chee could have resisted the attacks. Deep in our system is a safety program that could block the radio waves that shut us off and destroy the device. But to get the device, we'd have to steal it. And to steal it we'd have to get past heavily secured areas. Meaning we'd have to kill. And now, Lourdes, Mr. King, Maria… all gone. Shut off. Never to work again."

            Erek was silent for a while before continuing. "But the device was destroyed before I was discovered. An Andalite who did not believe in peace between humans and Andalites. All the dead Chee were taken to museums around the world. And now I'm all that remain."

            He looked up at me. I realized I had tears in my eyes and quickly looked away to wipe them. "I decided to continue on as a Chee," he said. "I chose to become an Andalite for the time being." He held up the remote control. 

            "What's that?" I asked.

            "Ah, this is my new help to aiding doctors. It's a matter remover. It can remove any part of the body as easily as cutting a string and replace it even easier. It can also remove inner organs, such as the appendix and the kidneys, without the slightest bit of surgery. It's still in the rough stage, but it will be ready soon." 

            "Cool." I then turned to the computer. "So how do I turn this thing on?"

            Erek lowered the hologram until he was back in his Andalite form. He held up the key card and ran it through a slot I had over looked earlier. The screen lit up. Welcome Erekroan-Labadon-Kinogrian. 

"Is that your Andalite name?" I asked? He grinned with his eyes. Yes. Now watch. He placed his hand on the red pad. His main eyes closed, leaving his stalk eyes watching the screen. In an instant, the screen changed to a site lookup. What do you want to look up? I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what was going to come up. Then, I said, "Animorphs. Look up Animorphs." 

Erek turned all his eyes to me. Maybe you'd better do this. He removed his hand from the pad. Just place your hand on the pad and tell the computer "Animorph" through your mind. Tell the computer with your mind.

I pressed my shaking hand against the pad and closed my eyes._ Animorph_, I told the computer. _Animorph_. Instantly, a whole article appeared on the screen. The computer read it aloud to me. Don't worry, said Erek. only you can hear it.

_The Animorphs are the living legends of Earth. Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias and Rachel, 5 humans…_ The computer went on about how we were given the power to morph by Elfangor. _Yeah, yeah, just get to the final battle,_ I thought. Hearing my thoughts, the computer skipped right to the part about the final battle.

_The Animorphs fought their final battle in May of 2001. While Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, and Aximili fought aboard the Yeerk Pool Ship, Rachel was assigned to hide aboard Visser One's Blade Ship. Jake gave her the orders to kill Tom Berenson, his own brother and Rachel's cousin. In doing so, Rachel was badly wounded and forced to demorph. Venerable and not in morph, Rachel was killed by a Human-Controller in the morph of a Polar Bear. The Blade Ship then exited Earth's orbit, and hasn't been seen since._

I felt like I was going to pass out. My hand slipped off the pad. The screen became blank. The memories of only an hour ago split into my heart. Tobias's mourning. Jake's self-blame. Cassie trying to be calm. Marco… well, I didn't know what he felt.

Rachel, are you okay? I forgot Erek was there. He stared at me with concern in his eyes. "I'm fine," I reassured him, taking a few deep breaths. "Can you boot it up again?"

With the site back up, I accessed the final bits of the Animorphs saga.

_Three years after the final battle, Aximili discovered the Blade Ship flying in Kelbrid space. Andalites were forbidden in Kelbrid territory, and his ship was attacked. The lone survivor, Menderash, returned to Earth seeking Jake's help. He believed Aximili to still be alive. Jake, Marco, Tobias, Menderash, and two of Jake's students boarded a Yeerk vessel, in which they named the _Rachel_. They flew it to Kelbrid space, leaving Cassie behind on Earth. They…_

I stopped reading and shut off the computer. They named a ship for me. Tobias must have. Rachel, do you want to leave? Erek asked. 

"Yeah, let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Erek and I left the building and walked down the street in silence. The sky was blue again. Good old familiar blue. I looked at the trees and missed the absence of the birds and squirrels. "Erek, what happened to all the birds and animals that used to be all around here?" He looked at me, surprise showing in his holographic eyes. Many of them became extinct after a while. Squirrels are now an endangered species, and most of the old endangered species are now gone.

            "So what kind of animals _do_ you have?"

            Oh, the Andalites brought some of their animals from their world, he explained, waving his hand at a six-winged bird flying overhead. I recognized it as the bird Visser Three once morphed. That's a _kafit_ bird. He pointed to the creatures I saw in the trees before. Those are _Djabalas_. And many of the Andalite creatures crossbred with the Earth creatures, so now we have new species. 

            "But the extinct animals. Name some."

            Erek looked uncomfortable. Well, the panda bear, for instance. The chameleon, the Siberian Tiger, many elephants, several species of plants… and… he trailed off.

            "Red-tailed hawks?"

            He nodded.

            I turned my eyes back to the road.

Before I knew it, we ended up in a park. "Whoa… what is this place?" There were all sorts of trees, flowers, and creatures. The park was huge, shaped like a hedge maze, only with holes in the hedges where people had cut through. Everything was either brilliant green or oddly colored. 

Ah, this is the Memorial park. For the Animorphs. He indicated to a large temple-like building in the distance. It was a strange cross between the Empire State building and an old Aztec building. Across the bottom ledge of the tapered roof stood several statues. Out of place gargoyles. A bear, a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, an Andalite, and of course, a hawk. 

I stared at the statues for a while. I guess I lost track of time, because the sun was setting. Erek let me stay, while he pretended to graze. Suddenly, I heard a low rumble. I looked up, but I saw nothing. Seems like it's going to rain soon, Erek commented. But he looked up, and saw no rain clouds. The sky was pale blue, gradually getting redder as the sun set. "That's strange…" But the words were barely out of my mouth when a flash of light erupted in the sky. I shielded my eyes. I lowered my arm, only to have another flash blind me again. "Arrrgh!" I shielded my eyes, just in times, as another flash erupted. Then there was silence.

I looked up and saw two bodies. Human bodies. They were draped over the hedge bushes. "Oh, god!" I backed into Erek and spun around. All four of his eyes were still locked fiercely onto the sky. I followed his gaze. Up into the sky. Six-winged birds fluttered around, scared by the flashes, and the sky returned to normal. 

Then I saw the one thing completely out of place. A two-winged bird.

A red-tailed hawk glided through the sky of Earth.

(A/n) Hah! I left you guys at a bit of a cliffhanger, didn't I? More to come laaaaaaaater…


	4. Chapter 4

(A/n) Heehee, chapter 4!!! What??? Did you really think I wouldn't put Tobias and the rest in the fic?? Shame on you! Dat's okay though, I owe you for the cliffie. ^_^" Peace out, and enjoy!

                                                ****

                                                **Chapter 4**

_Tobias_

            "Ram them," Jake said. "Ram the Blade Ship." 

            I knew I would die. I knew that soon it would all be over.

            Jake and Marco and Jeanne and Santorelli and Menderash would all die too. If not on the ship, then I the cold emptiness of space. Maybe I'd see them in the afterlife. Maybe not. But I knew I'd see many others. Jara Hamee. My father, Elfangor. Rachel.

            As the _Rachel_ raced towards the Blade Ship, I opened my wings for the last time. I would never forget my unfortunate life, but I at least wanted to remember my last moments as the ones of having the breeze under my wings. Soaring above the crowded streets of earth in the vast endlessness of sky.

            The grotesque being that was Ax's face was only a few feet away. I could only hope that whatever the One was wouldn't survive the crash either. Only a few feet…

            BOOOOOOOOM!!! 

_FLASH!!!!!_

I caught a sudden thermal. What the…?  Where was the Blade Ship? Where was the _Rachel_?? Where was I???

I soared through a huge red and yellow sky. There were faint traces of blue gradually disappearing. 

GRRRAWK!!

I turned sharply to the left to avoid being shish ka bobbed by a flock of passing birds. Six-winged birds. Okay, was this the afterlife? Red skies and six-winged birds as common as ducks? I looked down. I was flying above some sort of hedge maze. Below me, Jake and Marco's bodies were draped over two of the hedges. A few feet away, an Andalite and a girl looked at their bodies. Wait, was that…

No. It couldn't be.

But as the Andalite looked up at me with all four eyes, she slowly turned her face to the sky too. 

It _couldn't_ be.

But before I could think any further, there was a sudden flash of light. Red light. I veered off to the right, again, this time to avoid being hit by a red flying Andalite. But I timed my turn wrong. I sailed right into his tail! Turn!!! I screamed to myself. I managed to get a little distance, but Ax's tail blade came up out of nowhere. It hit me in the side of my head. Hard. I lost all concentration. Unable to fly an longer, I fell from the sky.

_Maybe I'll die now_… I hoped. I didn't even hit the ground. Someone caught me. Even with my hawk vision, I couldn't see the face properly. And I barely heard the "Morph Tobias! Morph!" I tried to concentrate, but I couldn't think of a morph. I couldn't even remember my morphs. All I remembered was the face that looked down at me, slowly fading to blackness. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was that I was on my back. I wanted to jump up, but I was too tired. My hawk instincts were still out. Then I noticed two faces above me. The Andalite. And the girl.

Rachel. It couldn't be. 

Am I dead? I asked.

No, Tobias, the Andalite.

By this time, my hawk instincts had woken up, and I jumped up quickly. Oh, god, Rachel??? I stared at the girl. She nodded.

What-

"Don't worry about it now, Tobias," she said. "I'll explain later."

There was a groaning behind her and the Andalite. Marco and Jake were lying on two tables identical to mine, and they had been unconscious since the fall. The Andalite walked over to Jake's table. Jake? Jake's eyes fluttered open. Rachel rushed over. "Jake!" 

"Where… am I?" He asked, confused. I hopped over to the table. He looked up at me. Well, we aren't dead. He breathed a sigh, possibly of relief. Then he saw Rachel.

"AAAAAH!!!" He jumped and scrabbled off the table. His yell woke Marco, who jumped suddenly and fell off the table. 

"Please tell me this isn't the dirt of hell I know have in my mouth," his muffled voice called from the floor. 

No- I started, but I was almost human so my thought speech stopped working. Marco sat up and looked around. He saw Jake, an Andalite, a half-hawk, half-human, and Rachel. He blinked, then rubbed the dust from his eyes. Then he looked up at Rachel again. "Okay, who morphed Rachel?" Rachel did not look pleased with this comment. "I _am_ Rachel," she growled. Marco stared for a minute. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" He backed away, tripped backwards over his table, and knocked some things of machinery off the wall. Careful! roared the Andalite. Only then did I realize where we were: an Andalite scoop.

Rachel laughed. "Even a millennia later, Marco, you are still as incompetent as you used to be." Jake tried to hide a smile. Rachel looked at me and grinned. Then she wrapped her arms around me and embraced me. I hugged her and kissed her and never wanted to let go. She was alive. She was here. With me. And I never wanted to let go.

 I don't know how long this went on, until Marco said, "Uh okay, is this moment over now? Cause, I sure would like to know, where we are." Somewhat embarrassed, I let go of Rachel, but kept holding her hands.

Not where, Marco, the Andalite said. When.

"Ooookay," I said. "Who's this guy?"

Rachel grinned at me, then at Jake and Marco. "Don't you recognize our old friend, Erekroan?" she questioned us. 

Then "Erekroan" dropped his hologram.

"Or, actually, we knew him as Erek the Chee."

Erek, the Chee android, grinned at us.

"Welcome, friends, to the next millennium." 

(A/n) So you like? I hope so, it's pretty hard to plan this all out, seeing as to I have so many alternative pathways… The chapters are too short, so I'll make the next one longer, and that's a Hanni Promise!*

*Not a real promise.


	5. Chapter 5

            (A/n) I return!!!! (Well, for the time being anyway.) A MAJOR apology to those who eagerly anticipated the arrival of Chapter 5 (3 people). I have 2 excuses, please no stoning. 1) My computer is a huge piece of ****, and it keeps breaking down. It needs a new program. 2) I was grounded till my stupid, stupid grades went up. Keep in mind that this was written well before they actually _did_ go up, so it must be summer now or something. Any who, enjoy, and as a token of my apology, everyone gets a cookie!!!! *gives everyone cookies*

                                                **Chapter 5**

            Jake 

            I was still in a state of shock. I could not believe what was happening. Rachel was standing there, right in front of me, alive. Tobias and Marco were alive. _I_ was alive. Erek was also there, an Andalite. We were within what looked like Ax's old scoop, except with a hundred or so gizmos hanging all over the place. The only difference was that we were, according to Erek and Rachel, a thousand years in the future.

            Rachel and Erek each told us their stories. Rachel told us about the deal she made with the Ellimist, her new family, and how she met Erek; Erek told us about how the Chee were destroyed. All of this was hard to take in, especially coming from two people I haven't seen in three years. Or a millennium, if you want to get technical.

"So let me get this straight," said Marco, after Rachel and Erek finished. "Are we stuck here in the future? Forever? Please tell me time machines have been invented," he pleaded to Erek.

            "How long have you been here Rachel?" I asked, changing the subject. "I mean since the Ellimist brought you here?" 

            She shrugged. "Less than a day, I think," she answered.

            Actually, to be precise, about 6 hours since met you on the street, Erek said, in his Andalite form.

            "Six hours?" Rachel cried so loud we all jumped. "I have to get home before my mom gets worried!"

            "Your 'mom'?" Marco inquired, raising an eyebrow.

            "My new mom," Rachel said impatiently.

            Wait a while, Tobias called from his perch on one of the tables. He demorphed back to hawk. We still need to figure some things out.

            "Such as?"

            Such as why are we here? Why did the Ellimist offer Rachel reincarnation, and then bring us into it? And what about Ax? And the One?

            "Who's 'the One'?" Rachel asked.

So Marco, Tobias, and I retold our quest for to find the Blade Ship and rescue Ax. "Oh, yeah, I remember part of it from the information computer," Rachel interrupted. She looked at us. Or actually just at Tobias. "You named a ship for me."

            I swear, if Tobias were a human right then he would have been beet red. Instead he preened his feathers.

            "Oooh, lover-bird, guilty as charged!" Marco crowed. Rachel calmly bent over and tugged his ear. Marco yelped. "OW! Quit it, Xena!" Rachel gave his ear one more firm tug and let him go. After that, Marco sat quietly, massaging is sore ear and muttering to himself. 

            I gave an audible cough and stood up. "Anyway, Tobias is right. Why did the Ellimist bring Rachel here? And why are we here?"

            Well, I can think of why we're here, Tobias said, looking up from his feathers. There are two possibilities. One, we died and the Ellimist reincarnated us too. 

            "Highly doubtful," I mused.

            Or, there is the more obvious one, Tobias continued.

            "And what might that be, Bird-boy?" Marco asked dryly, still rubbing his ear.

            Duh. The _Rachel_ and the Blade ship collided. Causing a mass explosion. 

            I nodded slowly, catching on. "A _Sario Rip_."

            "Well, that's pretty obvious," said Marco. "But here's another question. What about Mendrash? And Jeanne and Santorelli? You'd think they'd be zapped Back to the Future with us too. But they weren't." 

            "Well," Rachel wondered out loud, "knowing our friend the Ellimist, I doubt this is some coincidence. I would think that under normal circumstances I would be dead now. But he offered me a chance to live. And he said that it was against the rules of the game for me to still live."

            "Something must have come up that he needed you. And us," Marco finished.

            Then this means…

            _YES TOBIAS_, the great voice said as it filled the room._ I NEED YOUR HELP._

            (A/n) Oooh, are ya hanging onto your seats yet? No? Well, you should be. Another mean cliffy, but don't worry. The next chapter will be out faster that a hyperactive jackrabbit on a hot greasy griddle in the middle of Ju-ly!!! Yeeeeee-haa!!!! *rides off into the sunset….. backdrop* Ow…. x_;        


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